NAU Collegiate Wind Competition Team

NAU was pleased to host a team for
the inaugural year of the U.S. Department of Energy's Collegiate Wind
Competition. Our team consisted of undergraduate students from NAU's
Engineering, Business, and Environmental Sciences programs. They worked
together to design, build, and test a wind turbine to perform according to
their customized, market-data-derived business plan. The team faced off against
9 other university teams in May 2014 in Las Vegas, where the competition was
held in conjunction with the AWEA Wind power 2014 Conference. The teams was
judged by industry and policy experts on turbine design and performance, and
their presentations on the business plan and wind energy market and policy
issues.

This project provided students with
the experience of collaborating with their peers from different fields and
backgrounds around wind energy. This experience requires students to apply the
skills gained in the classroom to real world situations, pushing them to
advance their skill set and learn about other aspects of engineering or
business beyond the classroom.

At the Competition - Las Vegas 2014

NAU's Collegiate Wind Competition
Team competed at the American Wind Energy Association Conference from May 5th -
7th. The team took third place in the technical design review and second on
market issues.

Final Documents

Preparing for the Competition

Watch Video: CWC Promo Video

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Watch Video: A quick look at NAU's Collegiate Wind Competition Team

Video Accessibility Instructions:

These video instructions are located directy above a YouTube video. Hit the DOWN arrow key until you hear the words FLASH START. Once the screen reader is inside the FLASH OBJECT, hit the TAB key about 7 times until you hear PLAY BUTTON a second time. Hit the Spacebar key to play the video. You can then hit the Spacebar key again to pause the video. Feel free to hit TAB and TAB+SHIFT to listen to all the buttons in the FLASH OBJECT. Sometimes the PLAY button and the PAUSE button will be listed as an UNLABLED BUTTON.

Engineering the Turbine

The undergraduate engineering students were challenged to design a micro
wind turbine that is manageable and easy to assemble. They were required to
design everything from the blades to the electrical components of this turbine.
The turbine was judged on performance, operational safety, component
durability and system reliability.

"The most exciting aspect of this
project, in my opinion, is to create a system that really works. The
opportunity to make use of all the engineering skills I've learned over the
last few years has been an exciting prospect, because it really gives a
physicality to my major as a whole." - Charlie Burge, Mechanical Engineering Student

Planning for a Profitable Business

The
undergraduate business students were challenged to develop and present a
business plan for the product designed by the engineering students. They worked
alongside the engineering students to ensure that the design was cost effective, and to plan the operations of a profitable wind energy company.

"I’ve learned very valuable things
about both alternative energy, and starting your own business. The most
valuable thing that came out of this class for me was the importance of
communication between two completely different sections of this business.
Communication from both sides is essential for a business to run smoothly
especially with the creation of a new product." - Lukas Loehr, Business Management Senior

Navigating Market and Policy Issues

A subset of the team, including environmental science, political science,
and engineering students were challenged to present on a market or policy issue
critical to driving today's wind energy industry. Judges evaluated their
arguments and the depth, logic, and overall presentations.

"I have already learned a significant amount about how the wind
industry operates as a whole. I really enjoy investigating how policies affect
every aspect of its development and success. Having the opportunity to dive into the topic of wind energy in
the United States is very exciting, as is working alongside other students and
professionals with similar goals and interests." Candice Giffin, Political Science and Environmental Sciences Senior